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Photo Pru Sowers
The multi-purpose room at Veterans Memorial Elementary School was over three-quarters full for a public hearing on a proposal to explore closing Provincetown High School |
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School hearing draws vocal crowd
Regionalization article not on warrant, school delivers level-funded budget
By Pru Sowers
Banner Correspondent
PROVINCETOWN — Over 200 people attended a public hearing on Tuesday to voice their overwhelming support of the school district, urging town officials not to close the high school.
The public hearing was organized by the Provincetown School Committee, which has been battling town officials recently over whether or not to explore closing the high school and sending grades 9-12 to Nauset Regional High School. The School Committee sat quietly for about two hours, listening to people speak about the importance of the school system to the community as a whole and to them personally.
“I was born here. I went to school here,” said Lorraine Adams. “My husband was born here. He went to school here. I had a couple of daughters who went to school here. It’s very necessary to keep our schools open.”
Others talked about their fears that the town’s core services will suffer if the high school is closed. Yvonne Cabral Edwards said that families with children will be forced to move up Cape if the school closes, which could decimate the Provincetown volunteer fire department.
“If you close the school, you might as well lay us out on MacMillan Pier, which we spent $18 million on, and gut us like a fish,” she said.
Other comments were no less emotional and took aim at the Board of Selectmen and Town Manager Keith Bergman, all of whom were in attendance. One speaker called the selectmen “washashores” and blamed them for the financial problems the town is facing. Others were equally succinct.
“What has to be shipped out of town is the government we call local government,” said resident George Bryant.
“Declining enrollment is not the problem. It’s a symptom and needs to be addressed,” echoed Don Murphy.
Bergman was also raked over the coals for his attempts to contact Nauset Regional School officials before consulting with the Provincetown School Committee.
“School committees are the guardians of education in the towns. Let the School Committee do what it was elected to do and save Provincetown High School,” said Ken Oxtoby, a parent of two PHS students and chair of the Truro School Committee.
While all the comments urged that the high school remain open, one speaker challenged the School Committee to do its homework and research how other small school districts have overcome declining enrollments and tightened budgets.
“The School Committee is an autonomous body. But at the same time, we’re all part of the community,” said Steve Roderick, a former member of that committee, adding, “I hope the School Committee keeps an open mind.”
The public hearing came on the heels of last week’s decision by the selectmen not to ask residents at this year’s Town Meeting to vote on a proposal to take the first step towards regionalization with the Nauset school district. The move to withdraw the proposed article from the April Town Meeting came after the School Committee met with selectmen last week, ostensibly to discuss the proposed FY 2007 school budget.
But that meeting, on March 1, soon became an effort by selectmen to repair the rift in its relationship with the School Committee. Selectman Sarah Peake acknowledged the “anger and upset” that now exists between the two boards and said she feels the groups can come up with a solution to repair the damage.
One way to help do that, Peake said, is that she would not vote to approve the Town Meeting article authorizing Provincetown to request a conference with Nauset school officials, the first step towards combining the two school districts.
“I will take the lead from you on this,” Peake told School Committee members.
Selectman David Nicolau said that he wants to start building a new, positive relationship with school officials and that he, too, would not vote to approve the Nauset conference article.
“We can start from scratch,” he said. “I’m not going to shove anything down anyone’s throat.”
The School Committee responded the next day, Thursday, March 2, by unanimously approving a level-funded budget to submit to the selectmen, giving them what they had wanted from the beginning. The new financial plan for FY 2007 eliminated a $109,000, or 2.6 percent, increase proposed by school officials.
Nelson summed up her committee’s approval of the level-funded budget by saying, “We’re community players.”
She added, “We have a lot of support. We want to keep that support.”
Pulling more than $109,000 out of a budget school officials had said was the bare minimum they needed in order to maintain the current level of academic excellence will cause some cutbacks. Programs slated for elimination under a level-funded budget include the on-line virtual high school, MassSail and the entire adult education program.
Nelson said that the School Committee will work with Supt. Janice Lachowetz to prioritize the list of cutbacks and will seek state and federal grants to try to make up some of the shortfall.
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